Trouble in Your Tank: Organic Addition Agents in Electrolytic Copper Plating
It’s Only Common Sense: Selling During an Economic Downturn
Marcy’s Musings: Can You Hear the Voices?
Echodyne Radars Anchor DARPA’s Urban Drone Testing
November 22, 2019 | Business WireEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Echodyne, the manufacturer of innovative, high-performance radars for government and commercial markets, announced today that its radars were key active sensors deployed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for its Aerial Dragnet program in San Diego during the week of October 21, 2019. In conjunction with the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW), Echodyne’s EchoGuard and EchoFlight radars provided comprehensive surveillance of drone activity in San Diego’s urban airspace.
The DARPA testing involved radar sensors on two large tethered aerostat balloons flying at up to 400 feet above ground level (AGL) over San Diego and National City, as well as fixed building-top and tower mounted locations providing large-area coverage. The sensors were tuned to detect and track small drones and distinguish them from background objects such as buildings, vehicles, and birds. The testing assessed how well the system could detect, track and identify over 150 sorties of drones including various commercial off-the-shelf models, similar to those available at electronics stores or online retailers, which simulated unauthorized / unidentified drones flying in the city.
Drone sales into the consumer and commercial segments will result in nearly 2 million unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the US in 2020, and the global market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 20.5% to reach nearly $43 billion in 2024, per the FAA Aerospace Forecast and a separate industry report, Drone Analytics—Market Analysis, Trends, and Forecasts. With this volume of drones in the airspace, dense urban areas will need to evolve from point security deployments to full urban airspace situational awareness.
San Diego was a natural choice to test this system given the city’s participation in the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (IPP). While DARPA’s focus is on protecting U.S. troops from drone attacks in urban settings overseas, the system under development could ultimately help protect U.S. metropolitan areas from potential drone-enabled terrorist threats.
“The DARPA requirement to create full urban airspace situational awareness has been challenging yet rewarding,” said Tom Driscoll, CTO of Echodyne. “In conjunction with APL-UW, we operated more than a dozen radars on aerostats and rooftops to detect and track urban drone flights. Our performance demonstrated that Echodyne’s innovative, beam-steering, electronically scanning radars have unique operational, sensitivity, and intelligence characteristics necessary to conduct networked airspace surveillance over a major US city like San Diego.”
About Echodyne
Echodyne introduces the world’s first compact, software-defined, solid-state, true electronically scanned array (ESA) radar sensor. Ideally suited for machine perception in an autonomous age, Echodyne offers high-performance commercially priced radars to governments, industries, and integrators engineering solutions for border security, critical infrastructure protection, first responders, unmanned aircraft systems, and autonomous vehicles. Privately held, the company is based in Kirkland, Washington, and is backed by Bill Gates, NEA, Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, and Lux Capital among others. For more information, please visit Echodyne.com
Share on:
Suggested Items
RTX's Collins Aerospace Enhances Capabilities to Speed Marine Corps Decision-making in Battle
04/22/2025 | RTXCollins Aerospace, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, successfully demonstrated new technology that helps the military gather and use information from a wider range of sources at Project Convergence Capstone 5, a large-scale military exercise.
AdvancedPCB Appoints Gary Stoffer as Chief Commercial Officer
04/18/2025 | PRNewswireAdvancedPCB is proud to announce the appointment of Gary Stoffer as its new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). In this role, Stoffer will lead all sales, marketing, and commercial strategy initiatives as the company continues its mission to deliver cutting-edge PCB solutions to industries worldwide.
Real Time with... IPC APEX EXPO 2025: GreenSource's Growth and Future Developments
04/15/2025 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOThings are looking bright for GreenSource. Michael Gleason shares an update on GreenSource's recent growth and upcoming changes. A recipient of a Defense Production Act Investment Program award, GreenSource is planning for new substrate capabilities. Current investments continue to enhance equipment and sustainability initiatives such as water quality. And their unique collaboration with the University of New Hampshire continues to aid their workforce development, despite recruitment challenges.
Apogee Semiconductor Teams with Arrow Electronics to Expand Distribution of Space-Grade Technologies
04/14/2025 | Apogee SemiconductorApogee Semiconductor, a leading provider of advanced technologies for space and extreme environments, announced its collaboration with Arrow Electronics, a global distributor of electronic components and services.
Satair, RTX’s Collins Aerospace Extend 50-year Relationship
04/14/2025 | Collins AerospaceSatair and Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, have signed a four-year extension of their cabin interior parts distribution agreement, continuing a relationship that has spanned more than 50 years.